I always listen to what the cold callers have to say if I have time. I just be blunt and tell them to get to the point because im short on time. If they mess me around then the phone goes down. You may think this is harsh but I see cold calling as an invasion of privacy.

You have nothing to lose in listening to them. Also, if you think they can do something for you that they arnt offering then just ask for it, the worst they can say is no.

Business calls then listen to what they ave got. That is what business is about. The transfering of goods or services from one person usually with a transfer of money from the other.

Personal sales calls, no time for them. I get home I want to relax and just like I do not read home shopping catalogues because I am relaxing I don't want to buy anything over the phone.

However annoying sales pitches with the long winded "hi how are you on this fine sunny day" does not work well with me. Cut to the chase I am busy is what I think. Customers are polite but this is over the top.

You have about 5 seconds to say what you need.

I would be quick but not rude in asking the caller to get the point. If you have just advertised once and are a small business I cannot see why they would think you would want to advertise in every other publication.

You can tell a sales call a mile away, if I'm not interested then I hang up. It's not a case of being rude simply that I get about 10 of these calls per day and I don't want to get involved in a conversation trying to convince me that switching to 3 or installing Sky will enrich my life.

If the calls come in after 8pm which is happening quite a lot now, I just hang up period.

Yeah I get alot of them too. Its funny when you ask if its a sales call and they say no. Then, 10 seconds later they babble on about some cheap gas service or something. I think they need to change their whole approch to get some sort of result.

If there is no caller display the caller is likely to get short thrift as I am on alert for a cold call. If there is caller display they get a nice report to the TPS for not following the sodding cold calling rules.

Typical response to pointing out they are breaking the TPS rules is:

Telesales "but but but but I'm not cold calling"
Me : "Sorry, I wasnít aware we had an existign business relationship - what was the date of your last invoice that I paid, Iíll check my system?Ē or ďSorry, I didnít realise you where a potential customer, I thought you where trying to sell me something. What accounting services do you require?Ē
Telesales "but but *insert lame excuse about a call back request* but but but"

*click*

I donít buy from cold callers period, and if you email me with spam I will block your address to ensure I donít ever buy from your company. I have a zero tolerance policy because I waste so much time with cold callers, although I donít get half as much as I used to pre TPS.

I listen If I'm not busy but hardly rude as I know they're only doing their job and I kindly say no thank you as Adycooney say that you may just want what they sell one day.

The only thing I don't like about telesales is the silly pitch that they have to say, I used to do telesales and I detest reading out the silly boring pitch...at the end of the day why not just get to the point, you may get a better response from customers. less rude too.

I have a little confession. When I was fresh out of school a girl I knew told me about this job (telesales) and how much money could be made if you were good at it. I decided to give it a go but when I got there I found that it was basically a big scam. Something about attending some conferance and you get a free holiday. Didnt really take much notice when I realised what was going on. I ended up phoning people up and telling them it was my first day and I was supposed to talk them into something which was a scam, which I wasnt to keen on doing. Asked them if they would like to talk about something else instead. I had some nice chats about football and programs on TV and stuff with a few decent people. I felt sorry for some of them when I thought about all the other sales people actually doing their job and getting their details to forward on to the next department. Some of the sales people didnt even realise they were scamming people 'till I told them how it was working. Needless to say that was my first and last day in the job and I managed a NILL on my sheet which I was proud of. Never again will I look at telesales how I used to.

I can't stand cold-calling, it's not so much "Cold Calls" it's automated dailing software which checks if your in before an operator is assigned to "Cold-Call" you.

This is when the telephone rings, you answer it and no one is there and you hang up. I can nearly always second guess the next call will be a sales pitch. (Or a stupid survey where they want all your personal details even tho you have no bloody idea who they really are.)

There is no point in getting angry about it, just say the magic words... "Can you please remove me from your contact list, I am signed up with the CTPS and wish not to recieve your calls".

I'm pretty sure it's become law (or a rule) that telemarketing companies have to display their number on Caller ID, but, this doesn't always happen.

I hate telesales calls, especially the ones who try to convince me that I have participated in their market research or filled in a survey just to try to get around the rules. I find some of them can be really rude and pushy.

It seems to be the tactic used by con merchants and scammers all over the world, some who you can barely understand. I remember the fake children's drugs magazine etc.. They faxed us back an invoice trying to make out we had signed up to this scam. This could and probably does catch out bigger companies with many employees.

If I want advertising, cheaper calls, gas, electric etc I do my own research and choose the company based on my findings not on a phone call out of the blue.

I remember one caller from Norway who said hello this is blah blah from XYZ company whats your name? I asked him what his reason for calling was, he wouldn't say . He just asked whats your name. He hung up in the end. It is very annoying when you don't sit at a desk with the phone in front of you, and have to run 100 m to answer the phone. Also when you are at a critical moment during a job.

I hate one-off cold calls too but the one thing I hate even more is when whomever I've told - IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS - that I'm not interested....and they start calling back four or five times with the silent call treatment.
This has happened even when I have mentioned the magic CTPS !!!!!!!!

Otherwise,if I'm at home and a cold-caller rings,I also tell them "I'm just the cleaner and I know nowt" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It works !